Money doesn't grow on trees

But family finances college tuition with Christmas trees.

But family finances college tuition with Christmas trees.

December 21, 2006|WENDY TORELLO Times Herald (Port Huron)

YALE, Mich. -- For as long as Bethany Shephard can remember, the Shephard family always traveled to a tree farm the day after Thanksgiving to pick out their Christmas tree. This year, the family started selling them from their own backyard. "We started with 2,000 trees, and after last weekend I think we need to plant a lot more," Ed Shephard said about Country Christmas Tree Farm and Gifts. Nine years ago, Ed and Theresa, with the help of a family friend, planted a few Christmas trees on the bare 20 acres surrounding their home east of Yale. They hoped their efforts would help finance college educations for daughters Bethany, 19, and Andrea, 16. "Since the beginning, we were out there right behind them stomping the trees in the ground," Bethany Shephard said. "A couple years ago we got to run the planter -- that was a big step up." The trees don't grow on their own. Each year Andrea Shephard has spent her summers mowing between the trees to keep the weeds down. The trees also have to be shaped a couple of times each year to keep them looking good. "It's really enjoyable to go out there and shape the trees," Ed Shephard said. "It's quiet." These days the girls can be found working weekends running the Country Christmas store while Ed Shephard and his brother, Dale, shake and bag trees for customers while Theresa Shephard works on handmade wreaths. "We didn't know if it was going to work or not," Ed Shephard said. "Friday morning, no one came until about 11, and I was out there in the field going, 'You idiot, what did you plant all these trees for?' " Shortly before noon, the Shephards sold their first tree. One by one, families visited Country Christmas Tree Farm and Gifts, each carefully picking their tree and perhaps, like the Shephards, starting traditions of their own. "It was a lot of work but it was fun," Ed Shephard said. "I'm having a blast."